This Master Guide organizes the complete 108-chapter, twelve-Part study of the Apostle Matthew, the Gospel traditionally associated with his name, the first-century Jewish and Roman world surrounding his life, the historical evidence for what can and cannot be known about him, the authorship and formation of the Gospel of Matthew, and the Gospel’s sustained witness to Jesus Christ. The project follows the evidence carefully, distinguishes Scripture from historical inference and later tradition, represents disputed questions fairly, and keeps Jesus Christ at the center of the entire investigation.
The complete guide contains 500,000 manuscript-visible words distributed across twelve published Parts and 108 chapters. The opening sections examine Matthew himself: his work as a tax collector, his call by Jesus, his place among the Twelve, the Matthew-Levi question, early Christian memory, Gospel authorship, language, sources, date, audience, and historical setting. The larger body then follows Matthew’s Gospel through the genealogy and birth of Jesus, the Sermon on the Mount, miracles, parables, discipleship, conflict, Jerusalem, the Passion, crucifixion, resurrection, Great Commission, and Matthew’s enduring witness to Jesus Christ.
Publication status: COMPLETE. All 12 Parts and all 108 chapters are published and linked below.
Begin with Part 01 — Chapters 1–9 →
Complete 108-Chapter Matthew Guide
Part 01 — Chapters 1–9: The Man Jesus Called
The opening Part begins with the historical Matthew before and at the moment of Jesus’ call. It examines what the New Testament actually tells us about him, what cannot responsibly be reconstructed, the political and economic world of first-century taxation, Matthew’s place among the Twelve, the relationship between Matthew and Levi, the significance of Jesus eating with tax collectors and sinners, and the transformation from tax collector to disciple and commissioned witness.
Part 02 — Chapters 10–18: The Gospel That Bears His Name
Part 02 turns from Matthew’s life to the Gospel transmitted under his name. These chapters examine why the book has been called Matthew, the significance and limitations of early Christian testimony, Papias and later witnesses, the Gospel’s Greek composition, its relationship with Mark and other possible sources, authorship theories, date and audience questions, Jewish context, literary structure, historical method, and the difference between evidence, tradition, inference, and certainty.
Part 03 — Chapters 19–27: The Messiah Enters the Story
Part 03 begins the sustained journey through the Gospel itself. The chapters follow Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus, Abraham and David, the women named in the genealogy, Joseph and Mary, the conception and birth of Jesus, Emmanuel, the Magi, Herod, Bethlehem, Egypt and Nazareth, John the Baptist, Jesus’ baptism, the wilderness temptation, the beginning of the Galilean ministry, and the first disciples who leave their former lives to follow him.
Part 04 — Chapters 28–36: The Kingdom Life Jesus Teaches
Part 04 enters the Sermon on the Mount and the kingdom vision at the heart of Matthew’s presentation of Jesus. These chapters examine the mountain setting, the Beatitudes, salt and light, Jesus and the Law and Prophets, greater righteousness, anger and reconciliation, sexual integrity, marriage and divorce, truthfulness, retaliation, enemy love, prayer, giving, fasting, the Lord’s Prayer, forgiveness, and the deeply inward righteousness Jesus requires of those who follow him.
Part 05 — Chapters 37–45: Words With Authority, Deeds With Power
Part 05 moves from Jesus’ teaching into the deeds that reveal his authority. The study examines treasure and money, worry and trust, judgment and discernment, asking and seeking, the narrow way, false prophets, foundations and obedience, healing, faith, storms, demonic oppression, forgiveness, Matthew’s own call within the Gospel narrative, table fellowship with sinners, restoration of suffering people, compassion for the crowds, and the commissioning of the Twelve into Jesus’ mission.
Part 06 — Chapters 46–54: Questions, Conflicts, and the Mysteries of the Kingdom
Part 06 follows the growing questions surrounding Jesus’ identity and mission. John the Baptist asks whether Jesus is the expected one, Jesus interprets his works through Israel’s Scriptures, opposition increases, Sabbath controversies sharpen, accusations involving demonic power appear, Jesus speaks about divided loyalties and the sign of Jonah, family and discipleship are redefined, and the kingdom parables reveal both the generosity and the hidden complexity of God’s reign.
Part 07 — Chapters 55–63: Bread, Water, Confession, and Glory
Part 07 begins with the death of John the Baptist and the terrible cost of confronting corrupt power. It then follows Jesus feeding the crowds, walking on the sea, meeting fear with presence, confronting disputes about purity and tradition, responding to persistent Gentile faith, feeding another multitude, warning about corrupting influence, asking the disciples who they believe he is, receiving Peter’s confession, predicting the cross, defining costly discipleship, and revealing his glory at the transfiguration.
Part 08 — Chapters 64–72: Greatness, Forgiveness, and the Cost of Following Jesus
Part 08 follows Jesus and the disciples deeper into the meaning of discipleship as the journey toward Jerusalem advances. Questions of faith, greatness, humility, responsibility toward vulnerable people, restoration, forgiveness, marriage, children, possessions, eternal life, wealth, grace, service, suffering, and leadership reveal that the kingdom Jesus announces overturns ordinary assumptions about status and power. The disciples continue learning that following the Messiah means receiving his values rather than merely attaching themselves to his success.
Part 09 — Chapters 73–81: The King in Jerusalem
Part 09 brings Jesus into Jerusalem. The humble royal entry, prophetic symbolism, the temple confrontation, questions about authority, parables of judgment and stewardship, conflict with religious and political opponents, disputes about taxes and resurrection, the greatest commandments, Jesus’ questions concerning the Messiah, warnings about religious hypocrisy, lament over Jerusalem, and the escalating confrontation surrounding the temple all move the Gospel decisively toward its final week.
Part 10 — Chapters 82–90: The End, the Coming King, and the Call to Be Ready
Part 10 examines Matthew 24–25 and some of the Gospel’s most debated teaching. Jesus predicts the destruction of the temple, warns against deception, speaks about persecution and endurance, addresses the abomination of desolation, the coming of the Son of Man, watchfulness, uncertainty about the day and hour, faithful and abusive servants, prepared and unprepared attendants, stewardship, judgment, mercy, and the final separation of the nations before the King. The emphasis remains readiness expressed through faithful discipleship rather than speculative date setting.
Part 11 — Chapters 91–99: The Cross, the Empty Tomb, and the Risen King
Part 11 enters the Passion and resurrection narrative. The chapters follow the conspiracy against Jesus, the final meal, Gethsemane, betrayal, arrest, abandonment, Jewish and Roman proceedings, Peter’s denial, Judas, Pilate, mockery, crucifixion, death, burial, the women who remain as witnesses, the guarded tomb tradition, the discovery of the empty tomb, resurrection appearances, worship, hesitation, and the risen Jesus declaring that all authority in heaven and on earth belongs to him.
Part 12 — Chapters 100–108: Matthew’s Enduring Witness to Jesus Christ
The final Part gathers the historical, literary, theological, and spiritual evidence into a concluding portrait. It considers the Great Commission, Matthew within the earliest Christian mission, later traditions about his ministry and death, the limits of those traditions, the Gospel’s reception in the church, its Jewish and Christian interpretive history, its central themes, and the enduring witness that has made Matthew one of Christianity’s foundational Gospel voices. The guide ends where Matthew’s importance ultimately leads: not with the apostle himself, but with Jesus Christ, the crucified and risen King who sends disciples to all nations and promises to remain with them to the end of the age.
Read Part 12 — Chapters 100–108
What This Complete Matthew Guide Covers
This project is intentionally larger than either a conventional biography of Matthew or a chapter-by-chapter devotional commentary. The surviving historical evidence for Matthew’s private life is limited, and the guide does not compensate for those limits by inventing certainty. Instead, it investigates the evidence surrounding Matthew, the world in which he lived, the ancient traditions attached to him, the Gospel transmitted under his name, and the entire narrative that Gospel preserves about Jesus Christ. Where evidence is strong, conclusions are stated clearly. Where scholars disagree or the sources remain incomplete, the uncertainty is identified rather than concealed.
The approach is also deliberately Christ-centered. Matthew matters because he belongs to the story of Jesus. The Gospel bearing his name begins by identifying Jesus as Messiah, son of David and son of Abraham, and ends with the risen Jesus claiming universal authority and sending disciples to every nation. Between those points, Matthew presents Jesus as Emmanuel, Son of God, Son of Man, teacher, healer, Messiah, servant, judge, crucified King, and risen Lord. Understanding Matthew therefore becomes another way of asking the larger question that stands behind this entire Christian library: who is Jesus Christ, and what does it mean to follow him?
How to Use This Matthew Research Library
Readers can begin with Part 01 and move sequentially through all 108 chapters, or they can enter the study at the Part addressing the question, passage, event, or theological theme they are researching. Because each Part belongs to one continuous project, the strongest understanding comes from following the complete progression from Matthew’s historical setting and identity into the Gospel’s testimony about Jesus and finally into Matthew’s lasting place in Christian history.
The individual Parts provide the depth, while this Master Guide serves as the permanent navigation center. Bookmarking this page provides a single location from which the entire Matthew project can be reached without searching separately for each installment.
Matthew and the Complete New Testament Library
The Matthew project is part of the larger Douglas Vandergraph New Testament research library, an interconnected collection of long-form studies designed to examine Jesus Christ, the Gospels, Acts, the New Testament letters, Revelation, biblical history, theology, discipleship, and the development of the earliest Christian movement. Each completed biblical-book project strengthens the larger library by creating direct pathways between related people, passages, doctrines, historical questions, and themes.
Readers who want to study Matthew according to the Bible’s original twenty-eight-chapter structure can continue through the dedicated Matthew Commentary Guide. Readers who want to move beyond Matthew can use the Complete New Testament Commentary Library to enter the expanding book-by-book collection.
Explore the Matthew Commentary Guide
Explore the Complete New Testament Commentary Library
Explore the Cornerstone Christian Studies
The larger Douglas Vandergraph Christian library includes extensive cornerstone works devoted to Jesus Christ, the Gospel of Mark, the Gospel of Luke, the Apostle John, and the Book of Revelation, together with Matthew and the expanding New Testament book-by-book collection. These resources are designed to work together so that a reader researching one Gospel passage, biblical person, theological question, or historical issue can continue naturally into the related studies rather than reaching a dead end.
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